frank wrote:I'll try not to forget to ask her tomorrow about the pizza [...] A few months ago, Danish pastry and buttercookies, immensely popular in Tehran, got a new name, after the Danish cartoon situation. [...]

Ferrus wrote:Surely the irony of a fundementalist Muslim protecting the 'purity' of Persian is that it doesn't matter! To him the only language God speaks is Arabic.

Nope, to him, (what you generically seem to call the 'fundamentalist muslim'), the only language in which the Qoran can be read and fully understood is Arabic. I hope your sense of irony leaves you some room to find out the difference between this and your assertion.

I fail to see what the President of Iran is but a fundamentalist (Sunni) Muslim - knowing that by fundamentalist I mean a follower of a creed who agrees with putative conservative fundamentals. And that is what he is -certainly I would avoid such terms of 'extremist' or other doltish adjectives.

Ferrus wrote:I fail to see what the President of Iran is but a fundamentalist (Sunni) Muslim - ...

I was under the impression that most Iranians are Shi'a, as are most of the Arabs in Iraq, especially in the South. The Sunnis are the minority in Iraq but controlled everything under Saddam's regime, and therein lies just one of the reasons for the continued violence there.

... knowing that by fundamentalist I mean a follower of a creed who agrees with putative conservative fundamentals. And that is what he is -certainly I would avoid such terms of 'extremist' or other doltish adjectives.

Some of the former American hostages who say they recognize him from their 444-day "stay" in Iran probably have different terms for him, most of which are not appropriate for this forum. I, fortunately, was not one of his "guests," but I have a long and unforgiving memory for some things. One of my failings, I suppose. It's not always easy to turn the other cheek.

There's all kinds of fundamentalists. Back during the Reagan era, the story (joke) circulated that someone asked Reagan what he would do if radical fundamentalists took over the oil fields. He replied that he thought he was on good terms with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

fun·da·men·tal·ism (fnd-mntl-zm)n.1. A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.2. a. often Fundamentalism An organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century in opposition to Protestant Liberalism and secularism, insisting on the inerrancy of Scripture.b. Adherence to the theology of this movement.

I don't understand why fundamentalist is Always an indictment, Let's look at this, our Society has lots of problems and is a complex arena where a slight misstep can result in terrible consequence. In order to make sense and keep order several types of "believers" have adopted a creed to keep their followers safer and more on track with their beliefs. In doing this they perceive others with 'similar' beliefs to have a watered down, muddied view of the Belief. Of course they see others are a threat. If my belief says to keep pure and a more liberal one sees a way that they can engage in activities my group abhores, the fundamentalist won't want that liberal around him or his children. This is seen as intolerant, but if a diseased person comes in contact with a 'clean' one, guess which one will get changed? I know the liberal one doesn't see it bad thsat they spread 'their disease' but the fundamentalist is enraged.
[disclaimer]Ok I'm not saying Liberal views are really a disease, that was a way to explain it in very simple terms.[/disclaimer]

It is ok [accepted; even the courts and public opinion usually follows the Liberal way] in our society to be Liberal but not to be fundamentalist, so the fundamentalist swims upstream in a polluted [to him] sea. They see Liberals as extremists with perks. If they get angry, that is why. I'm not trying to spark an argument just trying to see someone else's views.

mark just-seeing-this-differently Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...kb

A Muslim politics teacher of mine once argued that Western society is full of 'Liberal fundamentalists'. Still it isn't a very descriptive term.

As for the Sunni/Shia issue, you're right, 'my bad' as you say. Regardless, they still regard Arabic as the perfect language however. Tajik, a form of Persian (along with Dali and Farsi) is probably the most 'pure' variety. Farsi has had a great many years in the Muslim cultural sphere and so has borrowed from Arabic to the same extent that English had borrowed from French in the last 1000 years.

One of the great tragedies of history is that the old Persian history was destroyed by the Arabs in the 7th century, a history with documents that would have been comparable to Ancient Greece and Rome.

The Iranian government cares little about foreign words per se, after all the Islamic theocracy has encouraged the use of Arabic loan words and the like in a way the more nationalistic government before them did not.

It is the fact that western words are being used that amounts to the problem.

"Words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."
Lord Byron